To say Steve Hulsey goes hand-in-hand with golf at Southern Nazarene University might be a bit of an understatement.

Since taking over the program in 1996, the Southern Nazarene alumnus has guided his men’s and women’s teams to 27 national tournaments and currently has both teams ranked in the top-20 in the NAIA.

The two-time NAIA National Women’s Golf Coach of the Year (1999 and 2002) recently announced that the 2011-12 season will be his last as he prepares for retirement. Hulsey brought the SNU campus two NAIA national championships on the women’s side in 1999 and 2002, and had the men in the top-5 twice and the top-10 six different times.

His successes have garnered his induction to the NAIA Hall of Fame and Hulsey will be officially inducted at the NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship, May 15-19, in Greenville, Tennessee.

“I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to coach such great players and work with such great people at Southern Nazarene,” Hulsey said. “You have to give all the credit to the great players we have had come through here. They’re the reason why I have stayed at it so long. Now is the perfect time for me to step away and spend time with my family and leave a solid program in good hands.”

The program will go into the hands of a familiar face.

Derrick Taylor, who played for Hulsey from 1996-2000 and served as an assistant at SNU from August 2006 to December 2009, was named the head coach of men’s and women’s golf at SNU. Taylor comes to SNU after spending the last 10 years as the first assistant golf professional at KickingBird Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Taylor graduated with a bachelor’s in business management in 2000.

He was nominated in 2008 as an SCS PGA assistant professional of the year and holds a Class A membership with the PGA of America.

“This is a great opportunity to follow Coach Hulsey and all the great things he has done,” Taylor said. “He’s left a solid core and a great foundation to build on. I always had a dream to be a golf coach and have been working towards this from the time I graduated. I am excited that [Athletic Director] Mr. [Bobby] Martin is giving me this chance. I am looking forward to continuing the success looking forward to the challenge.”

Taylor, who lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Katie (Maddox) and their daughter Maddox, has already started some coaching duties, but will take the reins after both the men’s and women’s national tournaments.

“Derrick will have his hands full following a Hall of Fame coach,” Martin said. “Coach Hulsey has been a great ambassador for Southern Nazarene athletics and the sport of golf. We will greatly miss his leadership, but we feel Derrick is very capable of continuing the success of the program. We expect this to be an easy transition between Coach Hulsey and Coach Taylor. Derrick has an amazing drive to better the student-athlete in all phases. We feel he is an extension of what Hulsey started and we look forward to the goals he has set for himself and the teams in the future.”--Southern Nazarene University